ESAB Initiatives Support Students and Careers in Metalworking

ESAB Welding & Cutting Products (Florence, SC) announced three initiatives to support students and schools focused on skilled trade- and manufacturing-related careers. First, they have announced the WeldItForward student and school contest that offers equipment, filler metal and cash prizes, with a total retail value exceeding $97,000.

The WeldItForward contest has two phases: essay and fabricated metal project. From August 21 to October 9, schools in the United States and Canada (except Quebec) can enter an essay supporting the “Weld It Forward” contest theme. Judges will select six semi-finalists, comprised of three secondary schools and three post-secondary schools with a vocational or technical focus. ESAB will announce the winning schools via a Facebook Live event from FABTECH 2017 Exposition in Chicago, IL, on November 7.

The six semi-finalist schools will receive a welding and cutting equipment package valued at more than $6,000, and teams of two-to-five students will create a fabricated metal project using this equipment. The sculptures will be judged online where photos of the sculptures will be displayed. The two winning schools, one secondary and one post-secondary, will receive a grand prize of $20,000 in ESAB equipment and filler metals. Every student involved on the winning teams will receive a Sentinel A50 auto-darkening welding helmet ($300+ retail value), and a $250 cash award. Contest rules and details are available at metalmentors.com.

Second, ESAB is the exclusive equipment sponsor for the Paley-James Project, a collaboration between Jesse James of West Coast Choppers fame and world renowned sculpture artist Albert Paley, a world-renowned modernist metal sculptor. He is one of the most distinguished and influential metalworkers in the world. His passion for working with metal has driven him to support the challenge to encourage young talented people to seek opportunities in the various metalworking processes in the arts and trades. He says that, “Metalworking processes require a multitude of skills and disciplines. However, when most people look at fabricated objects, they have no concept of the processes required to create that object. One of the reasons I agreed to participate in this project is that it would enable us to introduce more people to the myriad of career opportunities available within the field.”

Jesse James of Monster Garage fame also has a history of supporting education, including establishing the Long Beach Education Foundation and the associated Jesse James Industrial Arts & Welding Program. “STEM classes give students the skills to carry them for the rest of their life,” says James. “The reward of changing metal into motorcycles or sculptures creates a spark that can turn a passion into a career. I’m proud to be in a position to turn those sparks into fire.”

Each artist will start one sculpture but finish the other. The works will be unveiled on November 6 at FABTECH 2017 and auctioned two weeks later. Proceeds will support grants, scholarships and educational opportunities created by the educational foundations of the five FABTECH co-sponsors: American Welding Society (AWS; Miami, FL), Chemical Coaters Association International (CCAI; Taylor Mill, KY), Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA; Elgin, IL), Precision Metal Forming Association (PMA; Independence, OH) and SME (previously the Society of Manufacturing Engineers; Dearborn, MI).

Third, the company has created the metalmentors.com website that includes the WeldItForward contest entry portal, news on the Paley-James Project and scholarship, grant and career-related information from AWS, CCAI, FMA, PMA, SME and ESAB. “The Metal Mentors website is a single, collaborative content destination from six organizations that pay it forward to the next generation. The site links to financial, educational and informational resources,” says Shyam Kambeyanda, the president of ESAB. “By working together, we create greater possibilities for supporting the skilled trades and manufacturing and engineering careers targeting secondary and post-secondary students in technical education, manufacturing and engineering programs.”

www.esab.com